Uncharted Passage

by Julie Cannon

  Hayden reached the door before Emily did. Her warm breath fanned Emily’s ear. “Thank you for coming last night, and for telling me about Tillman the other day.” Emily didn’t reply but Hayden could feel her breath hitch.

  She opened the door and Emily stepped into the hall. What she really wanted to do was turn around, hang the Do Not Disturb sign on the door, and never come out. She wanted to spend a lifetime in Hayden’s arms where she felt safe. She wanted to spend the rest of her life getting to know everything there was to know about this strong, sensitive woman. She wanted to make her laugh, comfort her when she hurt, and listen to her dreams. But she wasn’t quite ready to say those things to Hayden. Shit, she was barely able to say them to herself.

  What she said instead was “I’ll see you downstairs.”

  *

  “You both look like hell,” Tillman said after their appearance on Good Morning Chicago, when they were in the guest room removing their stage makeup.

  Hayden didn’t agree. Emily was stunning in a dark green suit with a cream shell accentuating the long neck Hayden had nibbled on so thoroughly just a few short hours before. She looked for any signs of their lovemaking and was relieved by the absence of marks.

  Tillman backed out of the room and Hayden closed the door behind him. “I think you look fabulous,” she said, countering Tillman’s description.

  Emily felt herself blush. She had taken extra care preparing for this morning, knowing Hayden would be sitting across from her. Her hair was up in a French braid and her earrings sparkled in the light. Every time she crossed her legs, Hayden’s eyes shot to them and Emily wondered if Hayden even realized she was doing it. The sensation of knowing she had the undivided attention of a woman like Hayden was unbelievable.

  “Thank you. You’re pretty hot yourself.”

  “It’s the uniform. Drives women wild. Does it every time.”

  Emily felt the heat from Hayden’s gaze and crossed the small room and stopped just in front of her. “That, too. But personally, I like the woman underneath all the buckles and buttons.” Hayden licked her lips and Emily’s crotch started to throb.

  “You know,” she began, caressing the gold buttons on Hayden’s jacket, “I’ve never undressed a woman in uniform. How many layers are under there?” She pretended to sneak a peek between the button holes.

  “Why don’t we ditch Tillman, go back to the hotel, and you can use your amazing fing—powers of deduction and find out.” The slip of the words was intentional.

  Emily’s eyes grew dark. “You make an interesting proposition, Colonel. I just might have to take you up on that, considering I can’t seem to keep my mind on anything other than how smooth your skin is just below your breasts. And how hard your muscles are along the back of your legs, and…”

  Hayden didn’t give Emily a chance to finish. She closed the remaining inches and did what she’d wanted to do for hours. She kissed her. Emily wrapped her arms around her neck and deepened the kiss. Hayden’s head started to spin when they were abruptly interrupted by the opening of the door. Thankfully Hayden’s back was a few inches from it, giving them an instant to recover before Tillman pushed on it again.

  Emily stepped back quickly, adjusting her suit jacket. She glanced at Hayden, who was running her hand through her hair, and she noticed a lipstick smudge on Hayden’s lips. Before Tillman had a chance to notice she signaled to Hayden to wipe her mouth and was relieved when Hayden pulled out a handkerchief and used a cough to cover up her efforts.

  Tillman rattled on about something that Emily half paid attention to, her mind a jumble of sensations ranging from arousal to passion to fear to relief. She couldn’t wait for him to leave so they could finish what they started.

  “We’re going where?” she asked.

  “To Dallas. The producer for the Phil Privett show called. They have a last-minute cancellation and we are booked for his show this afternoon.”

  Phil Privett was a nationally syndicated talk show host with politics so far right he could see the backs of the people on the left. His show was live and nationally syndicated in over one hundred cities across the country.

  Tillman droned on with the details, but Hayden was too engrossed by the look of disappointment on Emily’s face to pay attention. She was certain her face displayed her equal frustration at the abrupt change of plans.

  “This is huge,” Tillman concluded, finally. “Come on, ladies, let’s get going. We have a plane to catch.”

  *

  Emily was between Hayden and Tillman when they entered the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton. Their footsteps echoed on the marble floor as they approached the reception desk. They passed a large rectangular table occupied by vases of various sizes, each filled with fresh flowers. The brass trim around the furniture was polished to perfection, reminding Hayden of how she and her fellow recruits would spend hours polishing their brass prior to inspection. Just a hint of dirt would mean the end of any hope they had for liberty that weekend.

  Emily hung back, seizing her first chance to talk to Hayden privately. “I don’t suppose it would be a good idea to ask for one room with a king-size bed?”

  “I’ve already thought of that, but the way I feel right now, I don’t need a bed. Any horizontal surface will do. Or vertical,” she added, passing one of the large marble pillars.

  Emily followed her gaze, registering what Hayden was talking about. The thrill that came with knowing Hayden wanted her was indescribable. She practically groaned with desire. “How are you holding up?”

  Hayden didn’t pretend she didn’t know what Emily was talking about. She was wound as tight as a harp string, and one pluck would be all it took to break. “Fine.”

  “Bullshit,” was Emily’s reply. A small smile formed on her lips. This playful side had emerged somewhere between their third and sixth time making love last night.

  Hayden didn’t get the chance to respond. Tillman was calling Emily over to sign the registration form. Hayden’s clit throbbed as she watched Emily handle the gold pen. Her fingers were long and skillful and had brought Hayden to orgasm on more than one occasion with their gentle touch. Hayden could still feel Emily stroking her, demanding she receive as much as she was giving. Emily toyed with the pen as she asked the clerk a question, and Hayden thought her knees might give out.

  None too soon she was standing next to Emily, the elevator whisking them to their respective floors. Thankfully the doors did not have mirrors like many elevators do, and their position in the confined space gave Hayden the opportunity to drop her hand behind Emily and cup her ass. She was impressed by Emily’s self-control when she barely acknowledged her hand other than to tighten the muscle in her well-formed cheek. Tillman was slightly in front of them and oblivious to the activity behind him.

  They arrived at Emily’s floor first and she stepped out, glancing over her shoulder. Tillman reminded them that they had to be in the lobby in twenty minutes, but Emily’s eyes and thoughts were squarely on Hayden. She’d casually inquired about Hayden’s room number, giving hers in return, and was rewarded with a sweet smile from Hayden at her ingenuity. She knew that Hayden would come to her room as soon as she could. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to wait long.

  Emily had just finished her unpacking when there was a light knock on her door. After a quick look through the peephole, she opened the door, dragged Hayden inside, and pinned her against the door, kissing her hard. After several moments Emily began fumbling with the buckle on Hayden’s uniform pants.

  “You said something about a vertical surface,” she mumbled breathlessly into Hayden’s mouth.

  She was on fire and had to have Hayden now. She slipped her hand down the front of Hayden’s pants, the unopened zipper scraping the back of her hand. Her fingers found what they were searching for and easily slid into the warmth she remembered from the night before.

  “God, you feel good.”

  “No, that feels good,” Hayden managed to croak out just as Emily’s fingers
stroked her clit. “One more of those and that’ll be it.” Her voice was throaty and shook when she spoke.

  “Good, I love it when you come,” Emily replied, teasing Hayden just to the brink and then backing off slightly. “I love to feel you get harder and wetter before you explode in my hand. I love it when you’re weak with desire and cling to me. I love it when you call my name.”

  Emily knew she could easily come with Hayden. They’d come together several times last night, a rare feat in her experience. It usually took years of being together to perfect the timing of mutual orgasms. Hayden tensed in her arms and Emily knew her release was just moments away.

  “Emily,” Hayden whispered in her ear an instant before she shook uncontrollably in Emily’s arms.

  The sounds that Hayden made when she was on the verge of orgasm were the most arousing she had ever heard. Her moans were deep, her whispers soft, and her cry at the peak was breathless. Hayden’s responses were all because of her. Her touch, her caress, her tongue. Emily had never felt so powerful.

  Slowly her head cleared and she regained the strength in her legs. Her hand, still deep inside Hayden’s pants, was warm and wet from Hayden’s climax. She moved her fingers and Hayden shuddered, grabbing her wrist tightly.

  “Wait, we can’t do this again,” Hayden said. “We’ve got to go.” Her words didn’t sound convincing.

  Emily smiled and kissed her warm neck. Hayden’s clit was trapped between her fingers and she could feel its hardness growing again. “Once more. I can feel you. You need this.” She punctuated each sentence with a squeeze of her fingers.

  Hayden was losing her mind. Emily’s hand in her pants, her fingers splayed against her clit, was almost her undoing. But if they didn’t get downstairs soon, Tillman would come knocking. He’d almost caught them once. This time it would be harder to explain what she was doing in Emily’s room.

  Hayden chuckled. “I’m an officer in the United States Army. I am trained to the utmost physical standards. I think I can manage a little arousal.”

  “A little?” Emily asked, her fingers finding their way to the hard nub.

  Hayden tensed and forced her mind to disengage from her body. It was a trick she’d learned in boot camp, when they were forced to stand at attention for hours on end. She made her mind go off into another place to ease the stress her body was under. She had used the same method dozens of times when she was in similar situations, when her body was overriding her mind. It didn’t work this time.

  “Fuck,” she groaned as the force of her second orgasm hit her hard.

  Her mind refocused, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Emily’s face. She wore a look of smug conceit, as if she were proud of herself for causing Hayden to lose all sense of control. Hayden didn’t mind. Emily was the only woman she had let take her like this, when her duty demanded she be somewhere else. And she wanted it to happen again.

  “Yes, I believe we did,” Emily said, sliding her hands out of Hayden’s pants, this time kissing her lightly. She stepped back, releasing Hayden from her position against the door.

  Hayden didn’t follow her line of thought. “Did what?”

  “Fuck.”

  Hayden’s hands froze in the middle of buckling her belt. Slowly she lifted her head and found Emily’s twinkling eyes filled with mischief and the promise of more to come.

  She raised her eyebrows. “Really? I suppose that’s one way to phrase it.”

  Emily stepped back giving her much-needed space. Her hands shook as she straightened her jacket, the bottom button having come undone the same time she did. She laughed as she stepped into the bathroom to wash her hands. Hayden came up behind her and wrapped her arms around her, cupping her breasts. Rockets shot through her as Hayden nibbled on her left ear.

  “You know paybacks are hell?” Hayden asked, flicking her fingers over Emily’s already erect nipples.

  Locking her knees to prevent herself from falling from the sensation, Emily looked at Hayden in the mirror. “God, I hope so.”

  The fire in Hayden’s eyes flickered brighter and Emily arched her back, pressing her ass into Hayden’s crotch. Then she slapped Hayden’s hands away and slid out of her embrace.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “We have about five minutes before you go on.”

  The look in Emily’s eyes took Hayden’s breath away. It was the same look she’d seen just before she touched her the first time. Desire, confusion, passion, and fire all mixed together and burned brightest in her eyes. Hayden nearly dropped to her knees when Emily licked her lips.

  Five minutes turned into one and they were ushered out onto the stage. The bright lights were hot, and Hayden didn’t need any additional heat on her already inflamed body. Emily looked cool and composed sitting next to her on a hard-backed chair as the sound technician adjusted their microphones. He seemed to spend a little too long near Emily’s breasts and Hayden fought the urge to grab his hands and tie them behind his back. None too soon they were being peppered with questions.

  According to Tillman, Phil Privett always warmed up his guests with some innocent chatter before he eviscerated them. He started with Emily, asking her what the tsunami looked like.

  “Awesome, breathtaking, frightening,” Emily said softly.

  “We’ve heard reports from other survivors that there was absolutely no sound.”

  Emily nodded. “When I first saw it I would say there was an eerie silence, kind of like the calm before the storm. Then as it came closer, the roar was unbelievable.”

  “Colonel Caldwell, what about you, where were you?”

  Lying on top of a beautiful woman, my tongue half way down her throat, my hand on her breast and my leg between her thighs. “I was on the beach. My back was to the ocean and when I heard the screams I turned around. The wave was about fifty yards from me.”

  “What did you do?”

  Hayden smiled. “I ran. I grabbed anyone I could but we couldn’t outrun it. The water was so powerful it knocked me off my feet.”

  “What did you think about when you saw Ms. Bradshaw coming toward you?”

  “I was up a tree by then and I don’t remember thinking anything. She needed help and I just reacted.”

  “How about you, Ms. Bradshaw? What did you think when you saw the colonel reaching down to grab you?”

  “All I remember was her hand grasping mine. She was telling me to hang on. One minute I was terrified and the next I was hoisted in the air.”

  “Ms. Bradshaw, I understand that you didn’t know who Colonel Caldwell was until you saw her at the base where you were protesting.”

  Emily wasn’t sure if that was a question or not but she replied anyway. “That’s right. We only exchanged first names on the beach and we lost contact after the rescue. Needless to say I was quite surprised to even see her again, regardless of the situation.”

  “Colonel Caldwell, how did you feel to see the woman whose life you saved protesting at your base?” Privett asked, digging into the juicy part of the story. “Protesting the very training that saved her life?”

  Hayden was ready for this. She didn’t need the scripted answers of her handlers to talk about this. “Like Ms. Bradshaw, I too was surprised. I never expected to see her again. I did think about her and the children from time to time.” Hayden saw Emily’s head turn in her direction. “I wondered how they were doing and how they’d recovered from the experience.”

  “But how did you feel when you saw her waving a placard?” Privett asked.

  “Surprised and glad that she was all right,” Hayden answered vaguely.

  “It didn’t make you angry?”

  He smelled blood and Hayden was not about to give it to him. “No, I wasn’t angry at her or any of the other protesters. That’s what’s great about our country. They have a right to voice their opinion, and members of the armed forces live and die every day to protect that right.”

  “What about you, Ms. Bradshaw?” Privett asked. “Why were you prot
esting at the base?”

  If any other military figure were sitting beside her, she would have let loose with everything she had against the institution and its policies. But it was Hayden beside her now, the woman who had saved her life. The woman Emily couldn’t get out of her mind. Hayden had a lifetime invested in her career. Emily was not going to attack her.

  “Like many Americans, I don’t believe we should be fighting another country’s war,” she said. “I showed my loathing by demonstrating. We were a peaceful group exercising our right to protest.”

  “But your hero is a very big part of that policy you claim to loathe.”

  Emily remained calm and chose her words carefully. “First of all, I can’t thank Colonel Caldwell enough for what she did for me and the two children. She didn’t have to risk her life for us but she did. I hardly know her, but I suspect it was the training she received in the Army as much as her own sense of doing the right thing that made her act. I would be a hypocrite if I said otherwise. Now, nothing against the colonel, but I seriously doubt the president asks for her opinion about military policy. Colonel Caldwell has a job to do just like you or I.” Emily could feel the tension Hayden was holding in check.

  “What was the first thing that went through your mind when you saw her again?”

  Emily chuckled and looked at Hayden. She was focused on their host and did not look at her. “Well, considering that we last saw each other covered in mud and God knows what else, wearing clothes that didn’t belong to us, and we hadn’t slept in two nights, it took me a few minutes to recognize her. She was in her uniform, all pressed and starched and official. I don’t know for sure what it was, maybe the way she was standing or the way she carried herself. But suddenly I just knew it was her.” Emily remembered the punch in her gut as if it were yesterday.

  “How did that make you feel?”

  “I guess I’d describe it as surprise, shock, joy, confusion all rolled up into one. But the thing I remember the most is a sense of relief that she’d made it back home safely.”